Maurice Alexandre Osmond Femme-Oiseau — Bird Girl

Rare silvered-bronze automobile mascot

France, model created circa 1915
Early cast, circa 1915–1925

Sculptor: Maurice Alexandre Osmond
Documented title: Femme-Oiseau — Bird Girl
Period: First quarter of the twentieth century
Proposed dating: Model created circa 1915; this cast circa 1915–1925
Material: Bronze with a silvered or nickel-plated patina
Base: Polychrome marble with geometric decoration
Signature: Signed “M. Osmond” in the bronze at the base
Origin: France
Condition: Beautiful state of preservation; slight wear and oxidation to the silvered surface consistent with age

Description

A rare French automobile mascot depicting a fascinating woman transformed into a bird, created by the sculptor Maurice Alexandre Osmond in the early twentieth century.

The female figure is captured in full flight. Her face, hair and neck stretch forwards, while her long, outstretched wings extend the silhouette horizontally. Her nude body, folded into an ovoid form, appears to be supported by a second pair of wings descending towards the base.

The composition is conceived as a single aerodynamic line. Nothing interrupts the sculpture’s forward momentum: the face cuts through the air, the wings reinforce the movement, and the compact body conveys an impression of speed and controlled power.

Originally mounted on a radiator cap, the mascot would have appeared to fly above the bonnet of the automobile. Seen in profile, its highly expressive silhouette created an immediately recognisable image, perfectly suited to the large motorcars of the 1910s and 1920s.

An Allegory of Speed

Femme-Oiseau belongs to the first generation of artistic automobile mascots, created at a time when sculptors were no longer content merely to depict an animal or a manufacturer’s emblem, but instead produced genuine allegories of movement.

The winged female figure simultaneously evokes:

• speed;
• freedom;
• the conquest of the air;
• mechanical progress;
• and the idea of a protective spirit guiding the automobile.

The work stands at the meeting point of two artistic periods. Its Symbolist and mythological inspiration remains close to Art Nouveau, while the simplification of the volumes, the tension of the lines and the pursuit of aerodynamic form already anticipate the Art Deco aesthetic.

The meticulous rendering of the feathers contrasts with the smooth, sensual volumes of the body. This opposition between ornamentation and simplification gives the mascot a particularly powerful sculptural presence.

Maurice Alexandre Osmond

The sculpture is signed “M. Osmond.” Bonhams’ specialist catalogues identify the artist by his full name, Maurice Alexandre Osmond.

Biographical information remains relatively scarce. The Musée d’Orsay heritage database records a sculptor named Maurice Osmond, born in La Meauffe, Manche, in 1875, and gives 1951 as the year of his death, without formally specifying the place. It also attributes to him a war memorial executed between 1920 and 1925.

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